Art of decorative laminated vinylite panels



C. H. SCHUH Sept 17, 1957 ART OF DECORATIVE LAMINATED VINYLITE PANELSFiled Aug. 12, 1953 United States Patent flflce 2,806,809 Patented Sept.17, 1957 ART OF DECORATIVE LAIVIINATED VINYLITE PANELS Charles H. Schuh,Tampa, Fla.

Application August 12, 1953, Serial No. 373,755

3 Claims. (Cl. 154- 46) This invention relates to plastic folding doorsand collapsible panels which fold up like an accordion. The invention isapplied more particularly to decorative Vinylite panels such aslaminated Vinylite encasing fabric or dehydrated grasses or leaves orcolored fibers of various kinds, etc.

Such decorative Vinylite panels are now made up as rigid panels ofvarious thicknesses and recently also as flexible sheeting used inupholstery. The object of this invention is to have a decorative panelwhich can be folded together, accordion style, and thus serve as afolding door, room divider, closet closure, etc.

The invention is carried out as follows. The Vinylite laminated panel ismade up of a number of layers which are fused together under heat andpressure. Between the center sheets is placed a decorative medium offabric, individual fibers or any other suitable decorative medium of thetype now used for decorative Vinylite panels. The several Vinylitesheets or layers making up the panel comprise two types, the regularrigid type and the highly plasticized flexible type. In this invention,these sheets which may be about .0075" in thickness are cut into strips,the rigid sheets being cut into relatively wide strips and the flexiblesheets into thin strips or in other words narrow strips. The wide stripsfor example may be 5 /2 and the narrow strips /2". In making the lay-up,the first sheet is a flexible one over the entire panel. Then are laiddown half of the wide and narrow strips in alternating layers, one layeralongside the other, alternating rigid and flexible layers of Vinylite.Then the decorative medium, loose fibers or fabric is laid down. This isfollowed by laying down the balance of the layers of flexible and rigidVinylite strips. Finally a sheet of flexible Vinylite is laid over thewhole area. The sandwich is now ready to be hot pressed into ahomogeneous panel, in accordance with the usual procedure for this typeof laminate.

The completed panel will comprise a surface sheet of flexible Vinyliteon each side and alternating strips of rigid and flexible Vinylitebetween these thin surface sheets. The flexible sections in the panelwill cause the panel to fold readily along these areas and the rigidstrips 1 The construction of the panel of this invention is furtherillustrated by the drawings made a part of this speciflcation. Fig. 1shows a panel made up of 10 thin sheets or" Vinylite. At the center ofthe sheet 1 is the decorative fabric medium. The surface sheets 2 areflexible Vinylite over the entire surface, both sides. At 3 is a stripof flexible Vinylite. At 4 is a strip of rigid Vinylite. Fig. 2 showsthe finished panel with alternating strips of rigid and flexibleVinylite in its normal flat form and Fig. 3 shows the panel in thefolded position. Fig. 4 shows a variation of the invention in which therigid strips of Vinylite are curved as shown. The rigid strips may bereadily curved by heating the panel and shaping the strips to a curve asdesired in a suitable form, cooling and removing from the form with thecurve as desired.

The advantages of the foldable panel of this invention are many, chiefof which is to provide a decorative Vinylite panel suitable for use asfolding doors. Some plastic foldable doors have been made by combining aseries of rigid strips mechanically with some form of hingedconstruction. Other plastic foldable doors have been made entirely outof flexible material with a more or less complicated constructionincluding rigid metal rods, etc. In the panel of this invention use ismade of the flexible strips to act as hinges and these are actually apart of the panel so that no extra construction or fabrication for thispurpose is necessary. Also, the panel in its normal form is entirelyfiat and can be relatively quite thin.

Various obvious modifications of this invention are to be consideredwithin the scope of the invention. Thus the rigid strips of Vinylite maybe curved as shown in Fig. 4. The surface sheet of flexible Vinylitemight be replaced by a flexible, thermoplastic sheet of anothermaterial, for example, polyethylene or cellulose acetate-butyrate, etc.Also, the rigid and flexible strips might be used in thick form as asingle piece instead of being laminated up from thin sheets when thepanel is being laminated. Other rigid plastic materials such as acetate,acrylate, polystyrene, etc. might be used in place of Vinylite.

Having described my invention I claim as follows:

1. A foldable, decorative, translucent, integral, thermoplastic resinouspanel of approximately inch thickness, being of uniform thicknessthroughout and being contiguous and free of voids, and having smoothsurfaces on both sides, said panel containing areas of low plasticizercontent sufliciently low to cause these areas to be rigid, and areas ofhigh plasticizer content sufliciently high to cause these areas to beflexible, said flexible and rigid areas running from top to bottom ofthe panel alternately in parallel alignment, the flexible areas beingapproximately /2 inch wide and the rigid areas being at least severaltimes as wide, said panel having a natural tendency to foldaccordionwise, said panel having an open mesh fabric embedded throughoutthe center thereof.

2. A translucent, thermoplastic panel comprising alternating strips oftranslucent, rigid and flexible thermoplastic resinous sheets fusedtogether facewise and edgewise into a contiguous panel, free of voids,of approximately inch thickness, flexible thermoplastic resinous surfacesheets on both sides being approximately .0075 inch thickness andextending over the entire area of the panel and being fused into thepanel so as to be indistinguishable to the eye, the flexible strips ofthe panel being approximately /fi inch wide and having an averageplasticizer content high enough to make them flexible, the rigid stripsof the panel being approximately 5 /2 inches Wide and having an averageplasticizer content low enough to make them rigid, said panel having anopen mesh fabric embedded throughout the center thereof and said panelhaving a natural tendency to fold accordionwise.

3. A translucent, thermoplastic resinous panel, having the outwardappearance of a single sheet of plastic material with smooth surfacesand uniform thickness throughout, with certain areas of the panel beingrigid and other areas being flexible, the flexible areas beingapproximately /2 inch wide and running from top to bottom of the panelapproximately 5 /2 inches apart and in parallel alignment, these areashaving a plasticizer content sufficiently high to make them flexible,said areas being indistinguishable in appearance from the rest of thepanel except by their flexibility, the rigid areas of the panel havingan average plasticizer content low enough to make them rigid, and said.panel having a natural tendency to fold accordionwise.

(References on following page) References Cited 1&1 th file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,126,833 Steinbarger Aug. 16, 1938 4Murray Mar. 4, 1941 Kallmann Aug. 7, 1945 McGillicuddy Oct. 5, 1948Hintersteiner Nov. 7, 1950 Breslow et a1. July 5, 1955

1. A FOLDABLE DECORATIVE, TRANSLUCENT INTEGRAL, THERMOPLASTIC RESINOUSPANERL OF APPROXIMATELY 1/8 INCH THICKNESS, BEING OF UNIFORM THICKNESSTHROUGHOUT NAD BEING CONTIGOUS AND FREE OF VOIDS, AND HAVING SMOOTHSURFACES ON BOTH SIDES, SAID PANEL CONTAINING AREAS OF LOW PLASTICIZERCONTENT SUFFICIENTLY LOW TO CAUSE THESE AREAS TO BE RIGID, AND AREAS OFHIGH PLASTICIZER CONTENT SUFFICIENTLY HIGH TO CAUSE THESE AREAS TO BEFLEXIBLE, SAID FLEXIBLE AND RIGID AREAS RUNNING FROM TOP TO BOTTOM OFTHE PANEL ALTERNATELY IN PARALLEL ALIGINMENT, THE FLEXIBLE AREAS BEINGAPPROXIMATELY 1/2 INCH WIDE AND THE RIGID AREAS BEING AT LEAST SEVERALTIMES AS WIDE, SAID PANEL HAVING A NATURAL TENDENCY TO FOLDACCORDIONWISE, SAID PANEL HAVING AN OPEN MESH FABRIC EMBEDDED THROUGHOUTTHE CENTER THEREOF.